LOW-ENERGY PROPERTIES OF M-STATE TUNNELING SYSTEMS IN METALS - NEW CANDIDATES FOR NON-FERMI-LIQUID SYSTEMS

We construct a generalized multiplicative renormalization group transf ormation to study the low energy dynamics of a heavy particle tunnelin g among M different positions and interacting with N-f independent con duction electron channels. Using a 1/N-f expansion we show that this M -level system scales towards a fixed point equivalent to the N-f chann el SU(M) x SU(N-f) Coqblin-Schrieffer model. Solving numerically the s caling equations we find that a realistic M-level system scales close to this fixed point and its Kondo temperature is in the experimentally observable range 1-10 K.